Corner-piece.



UNITE@ l" OFFICE.

AUGUST J. SCIIOENECKE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR IO ILLINOIS HEATERAND MANUFACURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

@ORNE R-PIE CE Application filed February 4, 1907.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 22, 1909.

4Serial No. 355,689.

To all wzom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, AUG-usr J. Scnonitncnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented` a new and useful Improvement in Corner-Pieces,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in corner-pieces, and moreespecially in cornerpieces for forming and reinforcing the recessedcorners of end-abutting flanges, rectangular in cross-section, providedon the outside surfaces of boxes, or other structures of sheet-metal,cardboard or other flexible material.

It has hitherto been the practice, so far as I am aware, in constructingbodies with flanges of sheet material about their sides, to miter theadjacent ends of the flanges for joining them together and therebyproduce a continuous flange about the body. This mitering operation notonly requires a high degree of skill and an expenditure of much time forproducing a satisfactory joint, but involves, in the cutting of thematerial, a large amount of waste of the latter. Furthermore, unless themitering of the ends of the flanges is accurately performed, thestructure will be rendered unsymmetrical and therefore not true.

My primary object is to provide a construction of corner-piece whichshall render unnecessary the objectionable mitering of the abutting endsof the ilanges, whereby the cost of construction is greatly cheapened,corners of the desired angles Aare produced, rendering the constructiontrue and symmetrical, and the time involved for constructing a body withthe continuous flange about it is materially reduced.

Referringto the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of a blankfrom which a corner-piece embodying my invention may be formed, Fig. 2,a perspective view of the corner-piece formed by bending the blank ofFig. 1; Fig. 3, a broken, perspective view of the corner of a box formedof sheet material having flanges formed integrally about its upperedges, but spaced apart at their ends from each other to form V-shapedrecesses; and Fig. 4, an enlarged perspective view of the flangesillustrated in Fig. 8, showing the corner-piece for uniting theflange-ends, in

position on the flanges, but broken away to better illustrate itsposition relative to the flange-surfaces.

For forming the corner-piece, I provide a blank 5 of flexible material,such as sheetmetal, cardboard or the like, the forni of blank shown inFig. 1 being of a shape adapting it to be folded to form a cornerpiecefor the flange-portion of a rectangular body, such as the box 6 shown inFig'. 3. The blank 5 is of general rectangular shape, but preferably notsquare. Along its opposite shorter edges 7 and 8 the blank is slottedapproximately one-third of the length of the blank from each edge, toform substantially lf-shaped recesses, or slots, 9, 9, each having aside edge 1G, parallel with and equi-distant from the long edges 11 and12 of the blank, and oppositely divergent edges 13 and 111,respectively.

The blank is folded at the dotted lines 15 and 16, which are coincidentwith the innermost ends of the slots 9, to cause the flaps 17, 18, 19and 2O to extend in the same direction and a proximately arallel withrelation to eac other. The lank is then folded on the line 21 in adirection to cause the flaps 18 and 20 to overlap respectively thefia-ps 17 and 19 and the edges 10 to bear against the opposed portionsof the blank adjacent to the corners formed by bending the blank on thelines 15 and 16, as shown in Fig. 2, in which folded condition the partsof the corner-piece are secured, in the case where sheet-metal is used,by soldering the flaps 1S and 20 to the flaps 17 and 19 respectively, orin the case where cardboard is used by pasting the flaps together in thesame relation. Thus the blank may be bent quickly and accurately intothe desired condition, the edges 10 which lie erpendicular to theopposed portion of the JSlank serving to permit accurate forming of thedesired angle in the corner-piece.

The construction illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is one example of the kindof article for use in connection with which I have devised my improvedcorner-piece, and it consists of a rectangular box 6 of sheet material,such as sheet-metal, cardboard or the like, having formed about theupper edge of each of its sides an integral flange 22, each of a lengthequal to the width of the side which carries it, thereby affording aseries of flanges about the box, separated at their adjacent ends, ateach corner of the box, by V-shaped recesses, or spaces, 23.

To render the flanges 22 continuous about the box, I provide onecorner-piece for each recessed corner, each being applied in a manner tocause the opposite marginal edges of the corner-piece to overlap thetop, bottom and outer side of the adjacent end-portions of the flanges22, as shown` in Fig. 4, in which position on the flanges thecornerpieces are secured as by soldering the marginal edges of thecorner-pieces to the contiguous portions of the flanges as indicated atx. v

Thus the cornerieces not only serve to render the flanges a out the boxcontinuous, but afford means for reinforcing the corners of the flanges.

Where the flange to be rendered continuous is on a body the corners ofwhich are not right angled, the slots 9 in the blanks should be formedto cause their edges 1() to extend at the desired angle to the edges l1and 12 of the blank for producing the corner-piece of the desired angle,the edges 10, 10 in their engagement with the opposed portion of theblank when folded, insuring the folding of the blank into a corner-pieceof the desired angle. This modification is too obvious to requireillustration.

It is thus apparent that by forming the flanges integral with the sidesby bending the material into the proper shape, with each flange of alength corresponding to the Width of the side carrying it, and fillingout the recesses between the adjacent ends of the flanges by acorner-piece separately formed, a great saving in the material and laborrequisite for forming the body with its continuous flange is effected,over that required where the corners are formed by mitering.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Iatent, is-

l. In combination with a body having a series of flanges about its sidesformed with recesses between their adjacent ends, cornerpiecesoverlapping and secured at their opposite ends to the top, bottom andouter sides of the adjacent ends of said flanges to render the lattercontinuous.

2. In combination with a body formed of flexible sheet material, each ofits sides having a flange formed integrally therewith and of a lengthcorresponding to that of the side carrying it, and forming V-shapedrecesses between the adjacent ends of said flanges, corner-pieces eachformed of sheet material with mutually overlapping portions at which thesections of the corner-piece are secured together, and each corner-pieceoverlapping and secured at its opposite ends to the top,

bottom and outer sides of the adjacent ends of said flanges to renderthem continuous.

3. In combination with a body formed of flexible sheet-metal, each ofits sides having a flange formed integrally therewith and of` a lengthcorresponding approximately to i that of the side carrying it and havingV- shaped recesses between the adjacent ends of said flanges,corner-pieces each integrally formed of sheet metal with mutuallyoverlapping portions at which the sections of the corner-pieces aresecured together, and each corner-piece overlapping and secured at itsopposite ends to the top, bottom and outer sides of the adjacent ends ofsaid flanges to render them continuous.

AUGUST J. SCHOENEGKE. In presence of- J. I-I. LANDns, R. A. SCHAEFER.

